Air India's Moscow-bound flight returns midway as ground team finds pilot is COVID-19 +ve

Air India's Moscow bound flight on Saturday was forced to return back to Delhi from midway after the ground team found out that the pilot was COVID-19 positive. The flight had to be called back from over Uzbekistan after an oversight by the team checking pre-flight test reports mistakenly passed on the captain's test reports which read positive as negative. 

The Airbus A-320 Neo, was a ferry flight to Moscow comprising of only the crew and was meant to repatriate Indians from Moscow. The flight returned to Delhi at approximately 12:30 pm and as per the regulations, the crew has been quarantined. The airline is set to send another flight on Saturday afternoon to bring back the stranded Indians. 

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Over 300 Indians from New York repatriated 

Over 300 Indian nationals, who were stuck in the US due to the coronavirus-induced global travel restrictions, were brought back to India in the fourth special flight from New York under the Vande Bharat Mission on Tuesday. Over 300 Indian nationals, who were stuck in the US due to the coronavirus-induced global travel restrictions, have flown home on board the fourth special flight from New York under the Vande Bharat Mission.

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The second phase of non-scheduled commercial flights of Air India from the US to various cities in India is underway from May 19 to May 29. In the first phase, Air India operated non-scheduled commercial flights from the US to various Indian cities from May 9 to May 15. The travellers will be required to undergo medical screening before boarding the flight and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed. Passengers will be medically screened and would have to download the Arogya Setu app once they arrive in India. The Indian government launched the ''Vande Bharat Mission'' on May 7 to bring back Indians stranded in various countries due to the coronavirus-related restrictions.

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